Sailing west of Tahuata was not a pleasure at all !

I expected a strong wind effect at Cape Tehopeotekeho, the most southern corner of Tahuata, and put and reefed the genoa by 25 %.

This was good because the wind went up to 23 KN.

From that point on, the distance to the island increased steadily but the turbulences at the lee side of the island were incredibly strong. Wind shifts, no wind, strong wind….

At the end we put all sails down and just motored. In between some desperate attempts to sail until I finally gave up. I didn’t like the wind game anymore: “Wind up, sail up, wind down, sail down…”

I don’t know if it was Mr Wind-ows or the monkey with the tin tool who had there fun with us.

We motored in NW direction towards our final WPT outside of Taiohae Bay, Nuku-Hiva.

I just looked N to see if there is more wind at the western end of the Canal du Bordelais, and there was the wind I was looking for. Pretty suddenly we got solid 5 Bft with peaks of 6 Bft. We set sails. Main with reef 1 and genoa again reduced by 25 % to be on the safe side. MaRe loves this wind and she runs with more than 7 and sometimes more than 9 KN towards her destination.

If possible I’ll keep the configuration until it’s getting dark. Then we’ll put on MaRe’s pyjamas for a safe sailing during the night.